Five things Clemson football fans should celebrate about 2020 season
The 2020 Clemson football season has come to a close and it didn’t end as Tiger fans would have wanted.
Though Tiger fans were hoping to see their team crowned as National Champions for the third time in five years, Clemson fell short in a 49-28 blowout against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
We’ve spent plenty of time talking about some of the disappointing aspects of that game and what the Tigers need to do as they move forward into 2021, but it certainly wasn’t all bad.
Here are five things that Clemson football fans should celebrate about the 2020 season.
5. We actually had a season
Let’s go ahead and start with the most obvious one of all: We actually had a season.
There were people in May, June, July, August and even early September who continued to say there was no way we’d have a season. Even when teams started to play, we continuously heard from doubters who talked about how they’d never be able to finish.
The fact remains: It wasn’t a perfect season by any stretch of the imagination. There were cancellations and there were games made up. There were bowl games scheduled that never got played.
Even so, we got to see this Clemson football team take the field a total of 12 times with only one game canceled all season. In a year where a lot of joy was taken away, Tiger fans should never take it for granted that we got to see Clemson in action and we even got to see upwards of 19,000 fans in Death Valley for home games.
That’s something many media pundits around the nation said would never happen.
4. We got to see Lawrence & Etienne one last time
The careers of Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne didn’t come to a storybook close as we had wanted.
We didn’t get to see the two share a moment of hoisting the National Championship trophy, but we did get to see them and, for that, we should all be grateful.
It would’ve been really easily for Lawrence or Etienne to opt out of this season when many athletes around the country elected to, but they remained engrained with their teammates. They played their hearts out each and every time they took the field.
Both Lawrence and Etienne are generational talents and Clemson football fans should celebrate the fact we got to see them play one last time.
3. 10 wins during a pandemic
Another 10 win season for Clemson football is nothing to scoff about.
I understand that we’ve moved forward as a fan base and we expect to win games and ‘best is the standard.’
Of course, anybody who looked at this schedule before the season would say that Clemson should easily have 10 wins. But you do have to consider the fact that we were playing during a pandemic.
Many teams had multiple games canceled and never made them up. That could’ve easily been the Tigers.
Instead, we still celebrate another 10-win season.
2. Another ACC Championship
Kind of like the 10 wins, many Clemson football fans just expect to win the ACC year-in and year-out now. But that shouldn’t be reason to take the conference title for granted.
Clemson has now won six-straight ACC Championships and this one was the biggest of them all.
The Tigers took on at No. 2-ranked Notre Dame team (at the time) and completely dismantled them with the eyes of the nation watching.
Winning in Charlotte is something that we used to dream of and now it’s an every-year occurrence. The fact still remains that another ACC Championship is reason to celebrate.
1. Sixth-straight CFB Playoff appearance
I’ve written my fair share of posts talking about the disappointments of the last two CFB Playoff appearances.
There’s no doubt in mind Clemson has to get better and the program has to continue to evolve. You can’t give up nearly 50 points twice-in-a-row in postseason games and not score over 30 points and still expect to garner the respect of the nation.
There’s plenty we can say on the disappointment of the outcome, but just to be there should have Clemson football fans showing a little gratitude.
I’m not saying you should go out and buy t-shirts, but we should still recognize that there 100+ other programs across the nation that would be absolutely ecstatic to be where Clemson is currently.
There is hope as the 2021 offseason gets underway and there’s nothing stopping this program from being back in the hunt next year. While it didn’t go as we all wanted, there are still reasons to celebrate this 2020 season.